Amber
by detroitficcity
Summary: After her string of defeats, Jasper does something unthinkable: fusing with a human. Rated T for mild violence.
1. Don't Touch Me

_DON'T TOUCH ME!_

That's what you said as I cornered you in your dwelling. It was intoxicating watching you tremble under me. Your back flattened against the wall as you put as much space between us as you could. You attempted to take advantage of your shorter height and duck under my arm to get away, but all I had to do was punch the wall by your head and you were again under my control. I could feel your quick, warm breaths on my chest. I wanted to look in your pretty blue eyes. To relish in your fear. As my hand moved to cup your chin, you screamed those words as a final, panicked defiance. Because any accidental touch... any brush against me... no matter how light...

Meant fusion.


	2. Sparring Match

My existence on this planet had been nothing but a string of failures. First the war. Then the failure to bring Rose and her rebels back to Homeworld. Lapis rejecting me and our fusion. Even those mindless corrupted gems rejected me. Rose's disgusting hybrid form debased itself further by fusing with a human child, then with the runt. Just to make my defeat at her hands more humiliating. Having the nerve to heal me was her most recent humiliation.

I was monitoring Rose's base to figure out my next strategy. You were alone that morning, running along the shoreline. When you stopped running, you practiced fighting techniques, punches and kicks. As I watched you start an elaborate dance of combat techniques, I had my plan: Rose's weakness was her affection for humans. Threatening you was sure to bring her out into the open.

I came out of my hiding place and walked over to you. You didn't fear me, assuming I was one of Rose's rebels. As we spoke, you mentioned being a former soldier, with a specialty in hand-to-hand combat. I could have simply knocked you unconscious and taken you prisoner, but I was curious to see how long a full-grown human warrior would last against me.

You smiled when I proposed a sparring match. I moved forward, aiming a fist at your face. You let me get close, catching my arm and pulling forward. You continued pulling forward until I had no choice but roll through it, landing on my back. You continued smiling as you tried to jerk my arm up again, but you were a second too slow. I turned my arm to get a fistful of your shirt. As soon as you felt it, you dropped back, attempting an armbar. I rolled into it before you could lock it in, putting me on top of you.

You let the arm go, instead placing an elbow in my midsection and scrambling out from under me. I rose up, right in time for you kick me in the temple. You tried to follow up with a second kick, but I grabbed your leg and pulled back, taking you off balance. As I moved to pin you, you used your free leg to kick my knee out. It gave you enough time to kip up.

We squared up again and you extended your hand, curling your fingers in a taunting gesture. I was vaguely aware of my gem glowing, but ignored it as I cracked my knuckles and advanced again. My fist glanced on your shoulder and your leg hooked around my side to make contact with my lower back.

I felt my form dissipating. I thought you had gotten in a lucky shot to cause me to revert to my gem form. When I came back around, I couldn't locate you. I started to curse my luck at being unable to beat even a weak human and pounded the sand. That's when I noticed my hands looked different. Both of them were crimson, as if I coated them in organic viscera. I ran my hands through my hair and noticed it had become a pale gold, instead of its usual white.

I remembered your own golden hair and realized the truth of what had just happened. You didn't make me revert back to my gem form.

We had fused.


	3. Battle

I didn't have much time to reflect on our fusion before it destabilized and we fell beside each other in our original, separate forms. You skittered away from me, fear and a thousand questions on your lips. I probably had those same questions. It was originally thought that gems could not fuse with humans. But that had to be how Rose created her new form. There was no other way.

I needed to try it again. You slapped away my offered hand and started walking towards the shoreline. But I wasn't letting you go. Not yet.

Our second round wasn't sparring, but a real fight. As we moved around each other in our dance of combat, you did all you could to incapacitate me long enough to get away. Some of your strikes actually hurt me. You knocked me off my feet a few times. But I was created to be a soldier and had 5,000 years of experience on you. So I toyed with you, waiting for my gem to start glowing again.

Soon enough, I swept your feet out from under you and pinned you down to start our fusion.

This one lasted a little longer. I even connected with your mind enough to see one of your memories: _a soldier shattering as he hits the ground._

But the fusion destabilized again. You lay on the sand, panting. I didn't hesitate this time and started to pin you again. You kicked at my the face, dangerously close to my gem. As I grabbed your leg, the fusion was instantaneous.

 _Regular patrol. Nothing major. Done it hundreds of times. We're laughing and cracking jokes. Explosion. Transport ahead of us flips over and we swerve to avoid it. Explosion sends us flying. Crawl out of my transport. Unholster weapon. Someone's calling for air support. I'm shooting. Explosion shatters my lieutenant. Shooting. Fellow soldiers falling all around me. Someone shoving me and telling me to retreat._

 _Running._

 _Why am I alone? Where's my unit?! They're back there! They're shattering! Let me go back!_

That time the destabilization was forceful, temporarily stunning me. I let you run away this time. I knew where you lived anyway.


	4. Amber

Now we're here, staring at each other. My hand hangs in mid-air as I wait for you to beg. When no pleas come, I bend my head forward and enjoy watching you flinch. Your defiance cracks and I see a solitary tear leak onto your pale cheek. My fingers brush against your jaw as my thumb catches the tear. You let out a small sound as my gem illuminates your frightened face.

"Oops..." I don't try to conceal my mirth.

You fight against the fusion as hard as you can. You almost succeed in breaking it. I hear your voice come from my mouth. I respond with mine. You plead that you don't want to fuse, but I know different. A part of you likes the power. When I tell you the truth of your own mind, your struggles weaken. After your fifth failed attempt to unfuse, you finally let go with a pitiful cry and your mind is silent.

I catch the mis-matched eyes from my reflection in the window, one yellow and one blue. My orange skin has lightened, making the red streaks on my body stand out. And my uniform has darkened to burgundy with black streaks.

Now what should I call this fusion? I look around the room and spot inspiration on a table by the window. I pick up a clear orange-red stone and examine it, laughing at my own perverse sense of humor. Dark red streaks go through it and a large beetle is in the center. A beetle that was trapped millennia ago in tree resin, which hardened and became this stone.

Amber is the perfect name for this fusion. An Earth organism trapped in an Earth rock for eternity. A gem only created and found on Earth.

My laughter stops when my free hand moves of its own volition, creating a red-gold knife on the back of my hand. I experimentally press the point to the amber, breaking it with little effort. My other hand creates its mate. I make a few experimental swipes and appreciate the subtle hum as they slice the air.

Oh, human... you are delightful.

I leave the dwelling to test out this new body, eager to see what other surprises you have in store. As the sea air greets me, I take a moment to close my eyes and turn inwards. As I advance on our shared mental plane, I see you seated in the center. Your ankle is covered by an orange-red manacle with a chain tethering you to the plane. You are curled into a ball, trying to make yourself as small as possible.

You try to shrink into yourself when I kneel down beside you. I lift your chin, forcing you to look at me. As my thumb traces the shape of your bottom lip, a fragment of my own memory starts to materialize.

 _Gems shattering around me. Orders to retreat. Running to the nearest warp pad. No time to help the ones that stumble and fall. A low hum getting steadily louder. Run becomes a sprint. Diving onto the pad, which activates as a bright white light forms in the sky..._

The memory disappears from the plane and I find my lips pressed to yours. I start to pull back, remembering that I intended this fusion as an experiment. I can't let you have control like I did with Lapis...

… When you lean in and return the kiss, I know we have an understanding. I also realize that I don't know your name.

It doesn't matter.

We're Amber now.


End file.
